Bank study reveals vast scale of olderpreneur economy

Over two-thirds of people owning small businesses in the UK are over the age of 46. This is just one of the facts to emerge from a major survey carried out for the Bank of England by Warwick Business School, called Finance for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises.

There were about 2,500 firms in the sample, two-thirds of whom turned out to be small traders – so these were genuine small businesses. The main purpose of the study was to find out how the firms financed themselves – so there’s a lot of information about overdrafts, credit cards, loans, grants and hire purchase.

So for example, 21% had borrowed for the business on their personal credit card. 34% had separate business credit cards. 78% used the big High Steet banks for their business account. 11% had been turned down by their bank for a business loan. Average bank charges were around £50 a month, although it varied widely.

On age the study confirms what other research has found – that self-employment becomes more common the older you get up to around your mid-50s, and then declines sharply as people stop working. It didn’t go into the reasons.

About 30% of the principle owners in this study were aged 56 to 65 and another 32% are 46 to 55.

Age Number Percent
15-21 6 0.4%
22-27 21 1.1%
28-33 93 3.9%
34-39 225 8.7%
40-45 420 17.4%
46-55 858 32.9%
56-65 655 29.2%
66-75 152 5.1%
76+ 23 1.3%

You can download the full report from the link below.

www.wbs.ac.uk/downloads/research/sme-report-may-2005.cfm

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